Championship preview: Liam Finn ‘thickens’ Halifax Panthers’ squad ahead of ‘tough’ trip to Barrow Raiders

Liam Finn has brought in former French international Clement Boyer on a deal which will see the experienced prop, who enjoyed a spell at The Shay in 2015, help out Fax for the remainder of the season after being part of the AS Carcassonne team which won the 2024 Elite 1 Championship last weekend.

“We needed to thicken our squad out again, especially in the middle,” Finn told the Halifax Courier. “Clement will come in and add competition to places as well as a bit of punch in attack and a bit of know-how in the front row.

“We have got a few players who we are absolutely pushing to the max at the minute with losing Cally (Will Calcott) and others earlier on in the season, so we were conscious that we needed to get some help in there, so we moved to bring Clem in.”

And Boyer’s added strength will be welcomed in Cumbria against a Barrow side whose four Championship wins so far in 2024 have all come at home.

Fin said: “They are a tough team who beat Featherstone in their last home game. It is always a tricky fixture as they are a good team. It is always a tough place to go and play.

“They are just tough blokes who usually play a physical game but they are more than capable of playing rugby league.

“They are a good team as they have shown with some of the results this year. They have got some good players, some tough players and they work hard for each other.”

The Panthers enter the round 11 contest second from bottom in the league, level on points with York Knights. A win at Craven Park would see Fax go level on points with Barrow. Finn, however, hasn’t been looking too much into the current league table scenario.

He revealed: “I haven’t looked into it in a direct head-to-head fashion. We just need to start picking up some points and winning games and playing a level of performance that we are capable of that we haven’t hit consistently well yet this year.”